• Stream: Toucan – Toucan EP

    August 14, 2018 - By 

    Following the success of their single, ‘We Fell For Miles’, Waterford based soul-pop duo Toucan have released their self-titled debut EP. The brainchild of singer-songwriter Conor Clancy and multi-instrumentalist Martin Atkinson, Toucan is a project that highlights the talents of both musicians. Clancy’s ear for quaint yet infectious melodies and Atkinson’s full-bodied arrangements result in a collection of songs alive with rhythm and charm. The band’s style is positively upbeat, reminiscent of the likes of Stevie Wonder complete with riffing brass sections and memorable choruses. While most of the EP follows in the footsteps of ‘We Fell For Miles’, ‘Gold’…

  • Premiere: Mob Wife – Warm Water

    August 17, 2018 - By 

    In the vein of past noise rock/post-hardcore outfit PigsAsPeople, and following the closure of Chris Leckey’s emo-hued dark alt. country project Via:Barvikha, he returns to the idea of the power trio. Today, we introduce you to Mob Wife, a new project that carries the heft of the former without losing the subtlety of the latter. The band’s caliber isn’t under question, with one of Belfast’s busiest drummers in Gascan Ruckus‘ Mark McDaid and producer & Ghost Office/Pale Lanterns‘ Carl Small on bass. ‘Warm Water’ is characteristic Leckey – blackly comic in its nihilism, the song tackles the 9-5 office grind that Dolly loved so well – stale coffee…

  • Microdisney Set For Vicar Street Show

    August 14, 2018 - By 

    It’s been announced that 80s Irish indie cult band Microdisney will play Dublin’s Vicar Street on February 18, 2019. Formed in Cork in 1980 by Cathal Coughlan and Sean O’Hagan, the pair will play returned to the stage to play shows in Dublin’s National Concert Hall and London’s Barbican Hall in June. Yet to be acquainted with the band? Go here. Priced €45 inclusive of booking fee, tickets for the Vicar Street show go on sale on Friday, August 17th at 9am,

  • Watch: Arvo Party – D U S T

    August 11, 2018 - By 

    In July last year, Belfast electronic/ambient producer Herb Magee AKA Arvo Party arrived via his self-titled, Northern Irish Music Prize-nominated debut LP. Recorded and written in Belfast, Bangor, Bushmills, Denver, Strasburg, London, Holland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Dublin and far beyond, it was a carefully-crafted trip veering between drone, dense ambience, and shapeshifting electronica à la Wolfgang Voigt, Jean-Michel Jarre, and Tangerine Dream. Having bridged the gap with the sublime ‘Liberté ’ back in May, Magee is back with his strongest single effort to date, ‘D U S T’ . Marrying bushwacking beats and propulsive synth-bass with submerged vocals that sees…

  • Line-Up Unveiled For Hard Working Class Heroes 2018

    August 8, 2018 - By 

    Hard Working Class Heroes have revealed their line up for this year’s festival, taking place on September 27-29 across various venues in Dublin city centre including The Workman’s Club, Tengu, and The Grand Social. The 50 local acts announced in alphabetic order are: 1000 Beasts, A. Smyth, AE MAK, Alan Finan, Awkward Z, Bad Bones, Beauty Sleep, Bicurious, Brenna Carroll, Chanele McGuinness, Crook, Damola, Darce, Evans Junior, Feather Beds, Flynn, Hand Models, Hunkpapa, I Have A Tribe, Jack O’ Rourke, Josh Gray, Joshua Burnside, Just Mustard, Kitt Philippa, Laoise, Leila Jane, Malojian, Maria Kelly, Molly Sterling, New Atlas, New Pagans, Ódú, Owen Denvir,…

  • FairPlé Set To Hold Two Day Festival of Music & Ideas

    August 8, 2018 - By 

    The first of its kind in Irish traditional music, grassroots coalition of musicians FairPlé holds its first festival of music & ideas over Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th September was founded to address gender balance in Irish traditional and folk music, and has been expanding and rolling out an increasing number of important events across the island. A series of panel discussions are set to take place at Liberty Hall on September 8 to address the issue of sexual harassment in the arts and Irish music, with a focus on the self-employed status of musicians. Participants will explore the rights and responsibilities of…

  • Video Premiere: Bokotono – You’re Looking A Little Rough Around the Edges

    August 10, 2018 - By 

    Did you catch Electric Dreams last year? It was an uneven, but effective rendering Philip K. Dick’s warped simulacrum of reality. Know what’s not uneven? The new video for Bokotono‘s latest single, ‘You’re Looking a Little Rough Around the Edges’, which we’re premiering here today. Formed in West Ireland in 2017, Bokotono are a trio informed by the frantic, but composition-conscious heavy post-hardcore of the likes of Botch, Daughters & Fall of Troy, as well as peers like ASIWYFA, Alpha Male Tea Party & Gallops, with whom they’ve shared stages. As chance would have it, their Venn diagram has a not-insignificant crossover with one of our longstanding favourite Irish music collectives, the…

  • Premiere: Lighght shares track as part of Humans of the Sesh charity compilation for Palestine

    August 3, 2018 - By 

    Everyone’s favourite bag of cans themed meme platform Humans of the Sesh launched their music strand Sesh FM little over a year ago. Since, it’s been providing great means for emerging Irish electronic artists to showcase tracks, EPs and mixes from the likes of Gadget and the Cloud, Doubt, Syn and Cnámha.  Now, the channel has launched its ‘Solidarity’ charity compilation series. ‘Solidarity Volume 1’ drops this Saturday 4th August, with all proceeds set to be donated to pro-Palestine charities. The compilation features a whopping 20 tracks from a wide array of Irish electronic producers including those artists lifted above and many more…

  • Help Musicians Northern Ireland Launch Women In Music Fund

    August 1, 2018 - By 

    Help Musicians Northern Ireland have announced the launched of their Women In Music fund. Designed to “support organisations and established collectives working to promote gender equality and the role of women in music”, The fund will provide grants of between £1000 – £5000 to support projects with the aim of advancing the awareness of gender equality and diversity in music in Northern Ireland through education and skills development, support and empowerment. The fund is open to established collectives* and organisations who deliver projects that aim to: promote gender equality actively encourage greater participation of women in live music in Northern…

  • Video Premiere: Post-Punk Podge & The Technohippies – Home Is Where The Heart Bleeds

    August 3, 2018 - By 

    If you’ve been on the festival circuit this summer, you might have noticed a couple of masked, sometimes shirtless dad-bod satirists spitting fire in a nearby tent. Mangling and dragging traditional instrumentation all the way into the 21st century, Post-Punk Podge & The Technohippies are the willing, furious voice for a certain voiceless subsection of Irish people right now. Challenging Jobsbridge disillusionment, corruption at the highest levels, and the media’s compliance with that, their latest single, ‘Home Is Where The Heart Bleeds’ returns to another social issue held very dear to the act – homelessness. Oh, and the music? A heady blend of trip-hop, infused with the band’s trademark Irish Tourist…